A Sizzling Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Sundae

 

Date: 29/11/12

Background: Stacey and I decided to make a trip to our “local”, The Yenton, because we love it so much there that on Four Square, Stacey is Mayor *looks impressed*. After dinner, we wanted an after dinner puddingy treat.

What: Cookies and Cream Ice Cream Sundae- Vanilla ice cream, with chunks of chocolate chip cookie, topped with whipped cream and drizzle with toffee sauce

Where: The Yenton, Sizzling Pub, Erdington

How Much: £3.49

What was Good: Stacey really was attracted to this dessert! The minute we sat down at the table the pudding menu caught her eye, and specifically a glowing image of this sundae beauty. So naturally when it came to choosing, I think the choice was already made! The toffee sauce was really thick and treacly- I feel as if I have tasted it before from another establishment… dot dot dot. The cookie pieces themselves were packed into the pudding, not just a scanty couple here and there. Also, for once, there was not TOO much whipped/squirty cream!

What was Bad: Personally, I did not think this was the best tasting pudding that there ever was. It was not extremely special and mind-blowing. The cookies were obviously pre-made pre-bought ones, and consequently they were dry with a hint of e-number for preserving and flavouring. It no way near as disappointing as the last pudding I have from a Sizzling Pub… But it just lacked that special something that I look for so often. It didn’t help that the ice cream had ice crystals again… Which really can ruin the texture and enjoyment of the whole dairy-fied desserty element… I also would recommend maybe using double chocolate chip cookies? Or something like a famous brand of dark chocolate American cookies with a vanilla cream filling? That is what springs to mind when I hear cookies and cream… And make it cheaper definately!!

Would I Buy It Again: Me, probably not, but I think Stacey would!

Waffle-O-Meter:

Me:

Stacey:

I Vote Germany!–Guest Blog by Stacey Downton

 

My lovely Stacey went to Germany in August (I have been bad and not got her to do a guest blog until now ) and she had this beautiful pudding. So for my “where in the WORLD can you get the best pudding!?” theme she has kindly offered to guest-blogify for me! So here it is!

Date: 30/8/12

Background:

As a Samsung Mob!ler (kind of like a brand ambassador) I’m really lucky in the fact that I get to travel to lots of weird and wonderful places with my friends and colleagues at Samsung. This time round we were all in Berlin for IFA 2012 which is a very large consumer technology fair in which Samsung had a HUUUUGE exhibition!

There were 100 mobilers from all around the world and as a treat for us (because we all work REAAAAALLLY hard…) Samsung kindly hired out the Restaurant Nolle for us, so that we could say goodbye to our new found friends from all over .

The Restaurant Nolle was an exquisite venue for our party. It is full of 1920’s elegance and lives under a railway bridge….every so often there would be a rumble as the train went over. Also it served a wide range of alcoholic drinks and plenty of German beer!

What: Warm chocolate and walnut cake with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

How Much?: Who knows? Ask Samsung

What was Good: The texture of the cake was very fudge-like. It was chewy and gooey like a chocolate brownie. I loved it. Plus there was nuggets of walnutty goodness which added a crunch that was simply delightful! The fact that the cake was served warm and the contrasting coldness of the ice cream made me even more excited. I love this combo.

Also the presentation was fantastic. It looked very pretty!

What was Bad: Call me picky but I think they could have left the whipped cream out and it would still have been an amazing pudding (Amy: Finally somebody who agrees with me!). Also it came with a little plant thingy…I call them syphilis…but that’s not their real name (Amy: I hope she means Physilis ), either way I’m just not a fan…please decorate my pudding with extra walnuts or chocolatey bits!

Waffle-O-Meter:

Link to Stacey-pops and her amazeballs Samsung techno-blog {I am a link- Click Me}

Dare I admit a “Sizzling” Pub let me down?

 

When: 14/9/12

Background: Me, Charlotte and Amy decided to go for noms at the Amber Tavern, Birmingham. Sizzling Pubs normally hit the spot!

What: Chocolate Fudge Sundae- chocolate fudge cake, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, a drizzling of chocolate sauce and chocolate bits.

How much?: £2.99

What was good: The age old- Chocolate Fudge Cake! It must be good! Right? Usually, well you have seen my previous blog posts!- I am all over Chocolate Fudge Cake based puddings like cheese chunks in a pineapple hedgehog! It was one of the cheaper puds, which also ticked a happiness box in my mind, because if a pudding is cheap then it is even more justifiable! It was pretty to look at. There is something about those chalice’s that just makes you feel very indulgent and happy with life! Chalice does make it sound like that new Stella Cidre though… And of course it was lovely to spend time with two of my lovelies.

What was bad: It just did not set my pudding flame alight I am afraid… If I have said it once I have said it a trillion times, too much squirty cream can spoil a pudding!! It doesn’t particularly taste very nice and it is sickly! The ice cream was all icy and sad, with no flavour and upset my teeth. And the cake was stale, practically flavourless and was sat, moping dryly in the bottom of the chalice, the chalice that promised so much. And the cake wasn’t even warm!! As you can probably tell this angered me somewhat. To top it all off, the woman serving at the bar REALLY REALLY needs some lessons in customer service! Service with a smile, or at least service without a hateful grimace of loathing and misery wouldn’t go amiss!

Waffleometer:

(Sorry about Poor Quality)

Too Sweet, Too Sickly :-(

Date: 24/8/12

Background: The last official day of our holiday in Porthmadog, my parents (Honorary Blog Contributors) still hadn't visited Cadwalader's, the Ice cream parlour franchise, on the high street. So we all went to relive the moment that “Did Somebody Say Pudding?” was born… which was yesterday .

What: Hot Muffin Sundae

How Much?: £4.50

What was Good?: It looks, and sounds divine! Who can possibly say that a hot muffin, piled with vanilla ice cream, hot chocolate fudge sauce and chocolate pieces, served with whipped cream and a “Cadwalader’s” wafer doesn’t sound simply marvellous? If you do not think this sounds stupendous then sadly I do not think we are on the same wavelength. The flavour of the sauce was nice and, as mentioned in our previous blog hot cake with a hot sauce and cold ice cream is usually a WINNNNNNNNNNNNNNING combination.

What was Bad?: As it turned out, this pudding was a big disappointment . As the title suggests, the final thoughts of it were that it was TOO sweet and TOO sickly. There was a vast quantity of the sticky sauce, and as it was slowly solidifying due to the copious amount of cold ice cream, it became more of a difficult task to actually consume the monstrosity. There was an almost bitter aftertaste, speculation perhaps but maybe these muffins were shop bought? They certainly did not taste home made. In our opinion you would expect for a pudding costing nearly £5 that the main muffin-y component would at least be home made. The worst part was that even for myself (Amy) and my pudding veteran parents, the sickly feeling lasted for a good 2-3 hours and was so sweet that it gave at least 3 of us a ‘sugar hangover’. It was a pudding that we all struggled to finish.

Waffleometer:

How does it compare?- Where it all began :-)

Date: 23/8/12

Background: This is quite an emotional *tear* moment. In Porthmadog, North Wales, me (Amy) and Stacey were on holiday with my parents. We had visited “Cadwaladers” on the first day of our holiday, but only consumed toasted sandwiches (yes I am aware these are not puddings… occasionally we have to eat savoury things by order of our pancreases) despite Cadwalader’s speciality being ice cream. On the Thursday of our holiday Stacey and I chose to have some pudding bonding time. Yes it was midday, yes we had only had breakfast an hour before, but after all “We are on holiday”. We both wanted a Hot Muffin Sundae (more on that in a future post) but as they were so popular they had sold out- these must be some AMAZING sundaes *EXCITEMENT*. Stacey chose a version of our new favourite pudding, Warm Waffle Sundae, and I made the boo-boo of choosing a very boring ice cream and sauce combo ( which was not even good enough to make it into our blog). As I hope you have read, our Ultimate “Gold Standard” Pudding is the Cinnamon Waffle Crunch from Frankie & Benny’s, and so we were naturally making a comparison between the two and “rating” them. Thus the “Did Somebody Say Pudding?” blog was born!

What: Warm Waffle Sundae

How much?: £4.50

What was Good: I think the mere ergonomics of Belgian Waffles creates the perfect shape to be served with ice cream and sauce. The little square sunken pits of happiness and joy within the cakey crispiness of the waffle makes the ideal space for the liquid melted ice cream to pool, so that when you cut open the waffle with your spoon it all oozes out. We watched the Cadwalader clan making the waffles on a waffle iron and so we knew that they were fresh. The caramel sauce was lovely and sweet, as you would expect, and complimented the dessert well, being soaked into the cakeyness like a sponge. The price in this instance was probably reasonable! Overall, although it did not quite match up to the “Gold Standard” pud, it certainly came close!

What was Bad: With there being 3 scoops of ice cream, Stacey found that actually it cools the warm waffle down too quickly, and so perhaps it would be better with just 2 scoops? Also, although the waffle was very tasty, chewy yet crispy, golden and wonderful, the Frankie & Benny’s creation still won in our opinion because it had the added flavour of cinnamon, which this pudding lacked. We also found that the squirty cream addition was pretty, but was too rich and did not offer any really flavour to the dish in general. Stacey thinks it should be perhaps pouring cream? What do you lovely people think?

Waffleometer:
 


(I feel as if I have seen this picture before……)